Stitching has Resumed!

I managed a few hours hand quilting during the evenings this week, which has been bliss. And I’ve found the perfect place to sit and sew in our new home.

We have a larger kitchen/dining room than we previously had. There’s more wall space for sure and much more storage. There are alcoves fitted with shelves either side of what was once a fireplace. It’s not taken me long to fill them up with quilting books and baskets of fabric!

So much sorting out to do in the kitchen/dining room/sewing room! It’s still a complete mess.

Best of all is the space I have for a large farmhouse table to sit and quilt at – it was languishing in the shed for years back at the old place. I had to make do with a much smaller one, which was always covered in detritus for lack of storage. And now, oddly enough, I can’t get the smaller one into the house! The large table has detachable legs, the small one doesn’t and the front door is very narrow (it’s a Victorian terraced house). The door opens onto a long hallway and there’s no turning space. There’s no rear entrance either so the small table’s gone to a new home: Kim’s dad’s shed! It’s the big old table for me. Serendipity.

Good Company

I found my quilt On The Edge (Floating Squares) shoved into a carrier bag the other day, along with some reels of thread and a needle or two. I cleared the table of boxes and sat down to take a few stitches. It was dark outside and I felt so at home, cosy, warm, content. Then something surprising happened: Kim pulled up a chair and kept me company for the entire evening. I have no idea when this last happened. He usually holes himself up in his room and I only see him when he comes out to raid the fridge. It really was special; the kind of thing everyone hopes for with their children, time to sit and chat, time to sit in peace and quiet, just be. Together. And I got lots of stitching done.

Quantity not Quality

I’m a bit concerned I’ve got this the wrong way round on this quilt. I know I said I was going to forgive myself, but I caught sight of the big stitch quilting on my Norfolk Bricks lap quilt, when I was finding a new home for it, and couldn’t help compare the two. The stitching on Norfolk bricks looks pretty even and regular (I was impressed!), On The Edge doesn’t. At all! But it’s getting done and I think I have the perfect place to hang it: above the farmhouse table.

Trying out On The Edge on the wall. (And wondering when I’ll have the time to refinish the table, fit more shelves in the alcove, change the paintwork from an insipid pale pink to white, glue another chair back together that Kim broke some time ago, and oh I don’t know…find homes for the rest of the stuff lying about!)

Knife Edge

The blue border won’t feature on the finished quilt, it’s there for a knife edge binding. This quilt was designed as a wall hanging and I want it to have the borderless quality of a painting. It’s the first time I’ve made a knife edge binding on a quilt this size so it’ll be a good learning experience. It’s also the first time I’ve made a quilt this size exclusively for hanging, so I’ve got to consider the best way to do this too. I was thinking about a tube for a rod at the top and possibly one at the bottom to give it some weight. Before I decide on anything though, I thought I’d ask which method you’d use and which methods you’ve tried and had the most success with. Let me know in the comments, I’d love your advice.

I’m getting ahead of myself though: first off I’ve got to finish the quilting! It’s on the agenda for today’s Slow Sunday Stitching with Kathy over at Kathy’s Quilts. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in, and I’m hopeful for some more company along the way.

Enjoy your slow stitching today.

I’m looking forward to popping over to your place to say hello and see what you’ve been up to, but there’s still no broadband here so my online time will be a bit ad hoc for another week or so. Will definitely see you soon!

I think you’ve found the perfect spot to hang your new quilt – it looks fabulous there, so bright and cheerful. Settling a new home takes time, but I think you’ve found the perfect place for yourself and Kim.

Thanks Pat! This time round I feel like the walls and furniture should all be white to show off the colours in the quilts and pictures I plan to hang 🙂 Kim gave me the fabrics in this quilt for my birthday a couple of years ago, so I feel like it should get a special spot to hang in 🙂

You will get settled over time. At least you have found a place to sew and enjoy some family time. Peacefulness and family are much more important. The rest will come piece by piece. Enjoy your stitching.

Thanks Deb, it really is so much more ‘me’, even Kim’s dad commented on that, ha! We don’t expect men notice such things really do we 😀 It’s such a big weight off my shoulders, but it’s taken a good while to sink in. I guess I wasn’t going to believe it would happen until it actually happened, everything seemed to go wrong at the last minute – thankfully this didn’t! x

love your farm table and so nice of your son to spend the evening with you chatting – it is just that age I think where kids would rather be in their room with the gadgets – my grandchildren are the same way – even when visiting they run in to say hi and then disappear. For wall hanging’s I normally get a fancy metal curtain rod (doesn’t need to be fancy) and run it through the top on a hanging sleeve – I make big ones usually and have never needed one through the bottom but see no reason why a plain rod could not be run through the bottom to make sure it hangs straight.

That’s a really great idea Karen, I hadn’t thought of a curtain rod at all. I was thinking more about a dowel and simple cup hooks, which probably wouldn’t be strong enough or would bow after a few months. Thank you for the tip.

Gadgets seem to make teenagers’ worlds go round don’t they! It can be so frustrating at times, when you want to get them to spend time with you or be outdoors. But it does have benefits too, Kim’s friends are off at uni and Skype has been a wonderful way to keep in touch. Not sure it compares to a hand written letter though!

My son walked in yesterday after I hung my just completed quilt and yelled out Wow, that really nice. Now I am wondering what he has been thinking about some of my other quilts. LOL I hand quilt in the corner by our kitchen table its very handy and I can sneak over and put in some stitches while I am cooking.

Aw, what a fantastic feeling that must be! Sometimes it just takes a little thing like that to make us smile for months on end – I bet you’ll look at that quilt with completely new eyes now 🙂

It’s funny that you stitch while you’re cooking – I do that too! I have an old hand cranked Singer set up nearby and it’s perfect for getting a bit of piecing done while the kettle’s on the boil! Every stitch soon adds up.

I think the size of that wall meeting the size of the quilt is some sort of sign that we’re in the right place. People kept telling me it’ll all work out in the end and things happen for a reason. I never believe that sort of sentiment, but I might have to reconsider after this!

It’s right beside the radiator Kate, I made sure I bagged that one before Kim had a chance, haha! Well, he spends most of his time in bed after all so he’s already snuggly and warm. It’s nice and light on a bright day as well, I think it’s pretty south facing but I need to find my compass to be more precise!

It looks fabulous! Love that the quilting is “edgy” for a quilt called “On the edge”!
Also loved hearing that your son was drawn to the quilt and hanging out with you while you were working on your quilt… warm fuzzies thinking about the power of connection through stitching 🙂
I do make a hanging sleeve on my wallhangings and put a dowelling through the sleeve.

Thanks Kathy. I called it ‘On the Edge’ because once it’s finished there’ll be a big pink square that goes right to the edge of the quilt – and also because being on the edge seems to reflect where I’ve been living for the last few years!!

We don’t have a tv and I think that’s something that actually brings some families together at certain times, I hadn’t realised that when we decided to get rid of ours. I thought not having one would encourage us to talk to each other, haha! Instead it’s just driven Kim to his room so he can talk to his friends on-line instead!!! I just put that down to being a teenager, but maybe the environment had something to do with it too. A table that’s not had to be shoved against the wall and covered in so much stuff seems to really help.

The biggest hindrance to settling in at the moment is Kim emptying all his boxes he’s left all over the place! Teenagers: the more you nag the more they dig their heels in and do the opposite. I remember it well 😀

What a nice room – your dresser fits in beautifully and I’m sure you will get to the walls in due course. That’s a great spot for your quilt too. Maybe Kim sitting with you is a sign of how relieved he is to have a new home- maybe he understands how hard you had to work to make it all happen.

That’s a really good point kaja. I think all the stress unsettled him as much as it did me, it’s just that he really couldn’t express it. I know he hated (his word) where we were living before and he was excited about moving. He got himself two rooms into the bargain: a bedroom and a separate study. I prefer to work in the kitchen area, it feels more social even when I’m sat there on my own for hours!

It’s funny, if I could start again on the furniture front I wouldn’t go for this style at all but we work with what we’ve got. Thinking about it, Kim’s dad got all the simpler style I prefer, haha! Even so, I still feel sentimental about it and attached to the memories it brings back 🙂 Ideally I’d like to be surrounded by less stuff, but us creative people that make more and more stuff are never going to be in that position are we, haha! x

Your new home looks like a winner. I’m so happy for you.
I just reread an article about the Espirit collection. It said they used velcro on all sides of the quilt backs to hang their collection. Of course, that means you need a different type of wall. Hmm.

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